As the son of former Central Catholic star Mike Peapos, Notre Dame senior Mike Peapos may know more about the Vikings' great tradtion in boys basketball than he does about the excellence of his own Crusaders program over the years.

But the young Peapos is learning in a hurry what Notre Dame's basketball legacy is all about and on Thursday night he added to it.

Peapos scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and was 8-for-10 at the foul line — all in the second half — to help the Crusaders hold off host Wilson 63-58.

It was a hard-fought victory on the final night of the regular season that not only earned Notre Dame (11-11, 9-9 Colonial League) one tournament berth, but it also secured a second postseason appearance.

The Crusaders knew they needed to win to secure a District 11 Class 3A spot, but got a bonus when they learned after the game that Saucon Valley defeated Palisades to give them a berth in the expanded, six-team Colonial League tournament.

Notre Dame and Palisades had the same league record, but the Crusaders got the nod because of a better record within the division.

So, what could have been Notre Dame's final game of the season turned into a stepping stone for at least two more games spread over two weeks of basketball.

Notre Dame, the No. 6 seed, will play at No. 3 Bangor in Saturday night's quarterfinals, while Wilson (14-8, 10-8) will be the No. 5 and travel to No. 4 seed Saucon Valley, also on Saturday night.

The top two seeds — Salisbury and Southern Lehigh — won't be in action until Wednesday's semifinals at Catasauqua.

The trip to Bangor won't be easy for the Crusaders, but it certainly beats the alternative of not playing anyone anywhere.

"We came into tonight knowing our season could end," Note Dame coach Pat Boyle said. "What a great feeling for these guys. We've been through a frustrating season, but all season long the guys have remained positive. Now, we're all 0-0 again and we have a chance. We can't wait to play on Saturday night."

Notre Dame hasn't missed districts since 1995, but appeared in danger of packing away the uniforms early when the Crusaders were 6-10 on Jan. 20.

However, just as they did a year with a late charge that carried them all the way to the league and district titles, Notre Dame regrouped just in time and have won five of their last six.

And at the forefront of the charge has been the 6-foot-5 Peapos, who had to overcome a football injury to work himself into playing condition, and then had to learn the Crusaders' system.

The entire Peapos family relocated to the Lehigh Valley after being in southeast Indiana.

"Michael has been a godsend for us down the stretch," Boyle said. "He missed all the preseason and our first two games. Then he got sick and lost 10 pounds.

"Finally, now he's in the flow. He doesn't exactly understand everything we're doing, but he's such a willing learner and the other kids like him so much. Down the stretch here, he has played really well and he's going to be a problem for other teams in the playoffs."

Peapos received the Jeff Dailey Memorial MVP Award for his performance Thursday.

"Coming into a new team and a new team dynamic, everything was a little hard at first, but I really like the rest of the guys and I'm fitting in," he said. "It's really cool to be back in the area where my dad played. He was excited about it and I was excited about it, too. I'm so happy to be in the playoffs and very excited to play against all of the great talent that's around this area."

Notre Dame needed Peapos' solid play inside and at the foul line to hold off a Wilson team that is probably happy it doesn't have another home game.

Bob Frankenfield's squad has lost eight home games, including contests on Warrior Lane on four of the last five Thursday nights.

Each of those defeats followed a similar pattern with Wilson playing well in various stretches early, but failing to remain consistent in the fourth quarter.

This one again featured numerous costly turnovers and missed free throws.

Phil Pierfy led the Warriors with 17 points, but missed six free throws. As a team, Wilson missed nine of 15 attempts at the line.

Still, the Warriors had a chance to tie the game but Jonathan Cintron missed a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left.

Mitch Daniel got the rebound, was fouled and made the clinching free throws with nine seconds remaining. Overall, the Crusaders were 16 of 21 at the line.

Danny Kelly made five of six free throws in scoring 13 points.

"We've been playing a lot better as a team, talking on defense and working the ball better on offense," Kelly said. "We're definitely ready for the playoffs. We can beat anyone. What happened before this doesn't matter now."